A lot can be learned from old newspapers about how things were in bygone days. Articles about everyday life, what things cost, who was going and doing things in the communities, etc. that helped keep people informed.
These are a few of those interesting things that were a way of life for a lot of towns and community affairs.
Cobb County Times, 1902, about Powder Springs. G. D. Miller, rural mail carrier on route No. 18, has a Clark’s Carriage Heater in his mail wagon. He says that for 6 cents per day for fuel he keeps as warm and snug as a ‘bug in a rug’. He heartily endorses it to all RFD Carriers as a positive prevention of cold feet, red nose, chapped lips, coughs, croup, colds, bronchitis, consumption and all allied complaints. (Note: Mr. Miller was the first rural mail carrier and used his buggy and horse to deliver the mail).
Ads from Powder Springs Pioneer Newspaper –
October 27, 1910, J. M. Caldwell, The Blacksmith and Powder Springs. It featured a drawing of a blacksmith shoeing a horse.
January 14, 1913, T. N. Lindley, Powder Springs. Shoes, Dry Goods, Gent’s furnishings, Farm implements, Hardware and Feed stuff. We also handle burial cases and robes. Give us a try.
March 30, 1917 – FIRST CLASS HOTEL AND LIVERY STABLE E. B. Lindley, Powder Springs, GA.
Cobb County Times, April 13, 1920 – “News From our Correspondent” Powder Springs.
– Mrs. Roscoe Dickey left Thursday for her new home in McDonough, Georgia
– The friends of Mr. and Mrs. Arrington, who live on Mr. W. J. Tapp’s farm, are sympathizing with their bereavement. Their son, Ernest, about 20 years of age, died at 2 o’clock Sunday morning on April 2.
Marietta Journal, August 4, 1921. “Powder Springs, one of Georgia’s Richest Sections”. POWDER SPRINGS BANK, HAS EXCELLENT RECORD. Has nearly doubled Capital Stock out of earnings while paying large dividends. The Powder Springs Bank has an unusual record for a small city bank. It was organized in 1905 with a paid in capital stock of $15,000.00 and has now increased it to $25,000.00 out of its profits. During these 15 years it has loaned hundreds of thousands for the development of farming and business interests in its section of the county….. The Bank’s stockholders are the leading citizens of the community.
Marietta Journal, 1939 – G. D. Miller Given Medal, Powder Springs. On September 3, a former member of the Powder Springs School Board was awarded a bronze medal for outstanding services to the school and community.
Marietta Journal, October 15, 1956. ‘Big Powder Springs House Razed by Fire’. A spectacular midnight blaze left five homeless in Powder Springs Saturday night, when a huge, one story frame residence on corner of Marietta Street and Dillard Street, was ignited by an exploding oil cook stove. Three neighboring residences suffered slight damages from the heat, but quick work by the Powder Springs Fire Department, with help from Austell, Dallas and Marietta, prevented the flames from spreading. The home was owned by H. E. Cochran and leased to Charlie Carter and family about a week ago………The burned structure was covered by insurance. (Note: Photo by local residence Robert Bodiford – Lockheed Camera Club).
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, sometime in the 1970’s.
“19th -century house saved from bulldozers”. A Greek revival home, built in the early 1800’s, was moved in January to Westville, a history museum south of Columbus, Georgia, where it will be used for fireplace cooking demonstrations. The house was located for over 100 years, on Old Lost Mountain Road and the new Powder Springs Parkway. It now stood in the right of way of the 2.5 mile Powder Springs Parkway under construction between Forest Hill Road and C. H. James Parkway. The house was bought by Meriwether Kiser, a merchant in Powder Springs, in 1855 which was 30 years after it was built. It was sold out of the family in the mid-1800’s but had recently been repurchased by his great, great grandsons.
More interesting information about early Powder Springs:
– 1899-1910 commercially grown peaches were shipped by carloads by rail.
– 1923 – Tomatoes were grown commercially and shipped by carloads by rail.
– Cotton was grown as cash crop after the civil war until 1915 when the Boll Weevil arrived in Georgia and devastated the cotton fields throughout the state.
Ad in The Torch Bearer (1926) yearbook of the Seventh District A and M School: J. M. Lovinggood & Sons, Dealers in Staple and Fancy Goods, Powder Springs, Georgia.
“Come in and Sit a Spell” Many changes have taken place in the last seventy five years. It was the custom to pay your doctor’s bill once a year.
The following fee bill was adopted by the Medical Society of Augusta, Georgia on the 18th of February 1829: For each visit during the day $1; for each visit in inclement weather $2; for each visit from dark until 9 pm $2; for each visit at night after 9 pm $4; for each prescription $1; extracting a tooth $1; dressing wounds from $1 to $10; amputating the thigh or leg from $25 to $50; and attending a case of natural labor from $10 to $20.
According to the Bibliography for chapter “Come in and Sit a Spell” Sherwood, Adiel Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, Second Edition, Published by J. W. Martin and W. K. Boden, Philadelphia 1829.
This information came from various copies of the newspapers and other documents that had been collected by Sara Frances Miller and other Historical Society Members and Historians over the years. They are on file at the Museum in the Research Room. Come visit us.